Second ship carrying more than 300 tons of food to Gaza leaves Cyprus port.
Second Ship Carrying More Than 300 Tons Of Food To Gaza
Ships carrying 332 tons of food to Gaza left the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Saturday with a convoy that will arrive in the besieged enclave early next week, officials said.
It is the second shipment this month came after Israel eased a 17-year sea blockade on the Gaza Strip to allow aid from Cyprus, provided by the American charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) for starving Palestinians.
The aid will be brought to Gaza by ship with cargo and a barge towed by a rescue ship and a tug carrying the support team, whose journey takes about 60 hours, a Cypriot official said. Cypriot authorities, in cooperation with Israel, have set up a sea corridor to facilitate screened cargo arriving directly in Gaza.
WCK which has been operating in Gaza for months, organized the mission with Spanish charity Open Arms, mainly through the United States with funding from the United Arab Emirates and support from Cypriot authorities.
On its maiden trip in early March, it built a temporary wharf out of garbage to load nearly 200 tons of food into the enclave, which has no port facilities. Saturday’s convoy includes two trucks and a crane to help with future sea deliveries, as well as a crew operating the crane.
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The US plans to build a floating dock off Gaza to receive aid. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said late Friday, referring to briefings with US officials earlier this week. The UN has warned that famine is imminent in the north. In the Gaza Strip, where 300,000 people were captured by the fighting. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people could face starvation by July.
Aid groups say seafood deliveries to Gaza are not welcome, but fall short of meeting people’s needs, and have called on Israel to allow help to arrive on land. Officials have accused Israel of blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israeli officials deny the allegations and say the UN and humanitarian organizations are responsible for providing aid to the region.
News source : The Guardian